"I could think of many descriptors to define corbyn. Clever is not one that could easily spring to mind. In fact it would be duplicitous of me to associate such a word with the leader of the opposition." .............Iains

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity." ............. George Orwell

I could think of many descriptors to define corbyn. Clever is not one that could easily spring to mind. In fact it would be duplicitous of me to associate such a word with the leader of the opposition. The great guido has the measure of the man, and some of the accompanying comments pull no punches. Corbyn is totally unfitted to be a future PM.

And if May runs true to form via her usual bait-&-switch, and breaks her word at the last minute? She could just be playing My Deal Or No Deal poker, using the nation's ass as a bargaining chip, and wasting still more time. I trust her promises exactly as far as I can throw a 44-ton lorry.

The fault is squarely on the shoulders of Cameron who would not stand up to the bully boys of the right wing. He was shit scared of losing power so caved in to the right within his own party and in the likes of UKIP. Any politician worth his salt would have demolished the xenophobic little Englander arguments and sent them packing but he played his little populist game and lost big time.

All subsequent moves by May and this useless bunch of tossers has been trying to get out of flushing the country, along with their careers, down the pan while trying to play down the fact that they dropped us in this shit in the first place.

"And if a hard Brexit will result in sectarian violence, then in so far as the Irish government plays a part in demanding a backstop leading to a bard Brexit, it will be the fault of the Irish government and its political choices."

Karen you seem to overlook the fact that this whole debacle was brought about by the UK decision to leave the EU.

The UK Government knew, or should have known, the ramifications of such a decision so if any blame is to be laid it should firmly be at the door of the UK Government.

The laddie has a hotline to God I suppose, or is it merely whimsy, or perhaps his delusions let him think his bizarre views are sufficient to bully the electorate? Fact: Poll 23.2.19 Leave 41% Remain 45% Undecided 13%

Level of uncertainty? well don't ask a bookie. They were hopelessly wrong last time around. I would imagine if we go down the road of another referendum and betray democracy then whoever has the best soundbite prior to polling will win the day. After all it is a well known fact on this forum that the people are sheep. It is also a well known fact that if you want the sheep to go in a certain direction and your dog is having an off day, then rattling a bucket is all you need to do. Question: does the leave or remain bucket contain the sheep nuts?

"t will be the fault of the Irish government and its political choices". No it most certainly will not be - it will be the fault of whoever drew a line across Ireland designation a large slice of it to be British - how unnatural is that As it stands, Brexit has already begun to eat into the economy of Ireland, both north and South - installing a hard border would accelerate that substantially Britain has deliberately used the DUP to push Brexit through - how on earth do you expect the Irish people to react to that ? There really is a chance of a reawakening of the old conflicts and once again that can be laid squarely at the doors of Westminster The British don't seem to have the slightest concept of the continuing effects of colonisation on the victims of that long dead means of dominating entire nations JIm Carroll

kAREN, There is a simple solution, the uk and ireland agree on a referendum which involves the total people of the island of ireland, the referendum is a united ireland northen ireland then gets its wish to remain in europe, the referendum is imo likely to be in favour of a united ireland.

And if a hard Brexit will result in sectarian violence, then in so far as the Irish government plays a part in demanding a backstop leading to a bard Brexit, it will be the fault of the Irish government and its political choices.

I don't buy 'A nasty British big boy did it six hundred years ago and ran away' as an excuse.

Your posts were among my sources of information that 'sectarian violence' was likely to be an outcome of a hard Brexit. So I am aware of the risk, and you are wrong to claim I am ignorant of it.

That risk is precisely why, whatever Bonnie did nor did not intend to say, there is a chance of UK troops being deployed in the North of Ireland. Working on the assumption that the UK government has the brains to see that there is a risk of sectarian violence it makes sense for them to have 'military' and other intelligence at work monitoring those likely to instigate such violence. I hope they have.

Let's not say 'sectarian violence', let's say 'murder', car bombings, knee cappings, pub bombings, tarring and feathering and all the rest of it. And protection rackets and so on while we're at it.

And I think one of the main things that brought about a reduction in this was whichever POTUS stamped down on the US sending money to fund the Irish terrorists.

I've been opposed to referendums for at least four decades, but I've decided in extremis that a people's vote is quite literally the only way out of this morass. I'm holding my nose here, but I hope that Labour's tentative moves in that direction bear fruit. In another referendum this country will vote remain, and that is the only solution to this that won't wreck this country.

"Hard Brexit is off the table" doesn't mean that Brexit itself is off the table. Only hard Brexit. You know, the one that means leaving without a deal. Remain doesn't figure in the March 12th scenario.

Brexit has an equivalence in quantum mechanics. Right now there is a super imposition of all states/possibilities. We can not know the position or outcome. No matter how radical the outcome it will become orthodoxy in time and you will know the true position you are in.

Psychologically When this baby Brexit is born it will slowly develop. You will go through a phase where Britain will think Brexit is still a joke like peek a boo game because you have not learned object permanency yet. A true position will emerge whether there are any benefits as self awareness develops.

Some forecasts of disasters or legendary traffic jams in the Chunnel have only helped to make the crises to become more manageable.

As orthodoxy = radicalism + time you will learn your worst fears and best hopes will only be understood after a full year passes.

At this late date I see this baby is coming for good bad or indifferent. imo

" a move towards a united Ireland " I would much rather this happened for a positive reason rather than an 'any port in the storm one though The on thing about this is that Brexit has enabled the different groups to unite in contrast to the UK where once united party has shattered itself into smithereens taking the rest of Britain with it. Having to wait for a plumber and putting up with 60mph fog does have its compensations Jim

Karen, re-read my last post, and read up on some history. I already said that the armed-forces remark was rhetorical. Of COURSE they're not going to. I am not worried about that, so don't misrepresent me.

May already agreed to the backstop (a fallback measure to prevent a closed border in the event of hard Brexit) in her initial deal. Now she want to undo it, effectively going back on the promises she made in her own deal. Ireland isn't the bad guy for needing to protect itself from the risks of internal violence - so it's *not* about the British army, OK?

May now wants to change the deal she herself presented and signed, to appease the hardliners in her party. And the open border was already enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, a treaty that Britain signed. Taking away the Backstop will be disastrous for Ireland on both sides (and the North is, after all, in the UK). Ireland didn't create this mess. Look at the bigger picture, get the facts straight, and please stop cherry-picking.

"Because it is their insistence on this 'backstop' that seems to be driving the EU position." Extraordinarily lack of understand at what a hard Brexit would mean to Ireland, including the reopening of sectarian violence Brexit is already threatening Irish industry (North and South) and costing billions to guard against As Varadkar said - Brexit is Britain'e decision and it is their responsibility to work it through without constantly passing the buck to those they are laready damaging One of the best things that could come out of this circus is the removing of partition - at least everyone would save on the future cost of body-bags Jim carroll

You'll find it less confused if you don't quote out of context. I wrote:

In addition to the financial aspects, [a no-deal Brexit] will almost certainly return us - on both sides of the border - to violence and personal endangerment. (And is Britain really prepared to send in armed forces?) No Irish government is going to sit still for that. Why should they put their own citizens at risk?

In other words, the question about armed forces is parenthetical - and rhetorical. The not-sitting-still referred to the dangers of a hard border, in light of the pressure May is putting on Ireland to limit/weaken the Backstop - which is the only thing preventing it, if there's a hard Brexit. A closed border, sooner or later will result in violence here, on both sides of it. Maybe I didn't make it clear (I was also writing in light of my previous post a few messages down.) But a hard Brexit is looking increasingly likely, and the domino effect is all too inevitable.

"Is Britain prepared to send in armed forces? No Irish government is going to sit still for that."

I very much doubt if 'Britain' is contemplating invading the Irish Republic, the Irish government has no need to sit/stand/worry about that.

Regarding deploying UK troops in Northern Ireland, if the need arises I see no problem, it's well established that there are plans to use the army post-Brexit in the UK if necessary. I sincerely hope that there are military/security service staff in the North of Ireland already as there have been mutterings about nationalist violence and this would seem to be a sensible precaution.

A vicious cabinet war erupted last night over a plot by senior ministers to delay Brexit, as Theresa May looked certain to shelve plans for a Commons vote on her deal this week.

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This ability of one person to manipulate Parliament by making promises to assuage rebellions at that time, only to renage on them.later is proving to be a major flaw in our system. Whether or not May does so this time, she has done it in the past. One the Brexiteers will agree with: since the Speaker selects which amendments are called and which are not, that role has a tremendous power vested in one individual.

I suspect whatever happens we might see motions over the next few months trying to give Parliament more powers rather than individuals.

Sorry, I didn’t realise I’d hit Submit... that was not intended as any kind of sarky “response”. (Damn iPad keyboards.) Whoever the biggest is, Ireland is part of a 27-nation economic bloc, and Britain will be left out - I believe struggling - on her own. I cannot tell you how much that thought breaks my heart.

The UK is the second major destination for Irish exports 12% but exports to Ireland represent 5.5$ of UK exports and ranks 10th as a Trading partner of the UK and has generated a trade surplus annually since 1990. I suspect your phrasing is back to front. This makes a significant difference,

The UK is in no position to make things difficult for Irish or continental trucks carrying food to the UK. We need to eat. It would be similar to the Venezualan aid convoy. Except that we can pay if the food can get through. May seems determined to hold a gun to our heads over a no deal brexit, is she prepared to try to starve her population into submission?

A most important point, there, so thanks for raising it. Those who oppose the no deal Brexit are being accused of gloating, and no doubt will be even more if there are problems.

I will take no pleasure at in anything that goes wrong. I, and I believe most people on the remain or softest possible Brexit side, want all the people of this country to do well and will take no pleasure in any difficulties that come their way.

Economically a hard Brexit will hit Britain severely too. Ireland is her biggest trading partner. If the UK leaves with no deal, she will be obliged to replace each one from scratch, with every nation individually. And the USA is currently unpredictable in that sphere, so no assurances there. With Europe acting as a bloc, that's not a secure place to be, as numerous British fiscal experts have warned. So it cuts both ways. This impasse is not chiefly about political ideals.

The real issue in Ireland, north and south, is less Brexit-pro-vs-con (though the North did vote to remain) as the spectre of Brexit with no deal. In addition to the financial aspects, it will almost certainly return us - on both sides of the border - to violence and personal endangerment. (And is Britain really prepared to send in armed forces?) No Irish government is going to sit still for that. Why should they put their own citizens at risk?

They're only holding May to what she already consented to: i.e., a backstop. The Good Friday Agreement was also a mutually signed treaty, parts of which are now being blithely disregarded. I don't know why May feels entitled to go back on her word, nor where the sense of injury comes from. Neither Europe nor Ireland kicked the UK out. It kicked itself out.

I'm a dual British/American citizen, resident in the Republic of Ireland for longer than either my native country or my naturalised one - both of whom I love. It gives me no joy to write this.

ut if the UK leaves without a deal, all changes and drivers will be expected to carry a green card when in mainland Europe and Ireland. They are likely to be issued by an insurance company for free, but the industry is warning it could take up to a month to obtain one, so if no deal happens and you're booked to go away with the car this Easter, you will need to act fast.

This can of course be reciprocated for any EU vehicles traversing the UK. Yet another expense to be picked up by Irish trucks. Typical Guardian to give half the story. Still looking on the bright side,the lousy rag will go belly up hortly. By the number of times it's online presence is begging for dosh it would appear its lefty business model suffers from the usual problem of having largely squandered other people's money.